“I am Aeneas, duty-bound, and known
Above high air of heaven by my fame,
Carrying with me in my ships our gods
Of hearth and home, saved from the enemy.
I look for Italy to be my fatherland,
And my descent is from all-highest Jove.”
Virgil, The Aeneid
Aeneas says he’s descended from the highest of the gods. Having such lineage set him apart from other men. Most men are just men. As proud as they may be of their lineage, they do not dare claim descent from any but other men.
Does any god claim descent from men? It seems not. An offspring of man is—by that very fact—not fully divine. The divine is diminished, compromised by the intermingling.
Or so it always seemed. Reasonably. But perhaps men have thought about this wrongly; and someone had to open our eyes to reality.
The surest sign of the divine is to raise up that which it touches.
Virgil (70-19 B.C.) is the great Roman poet, author of The Aeneid and The Georgics.
Husband, father, and professor of Philosophy. LifeCraft springs from one conviction: there is an ancient wisdom about how to live the good life in our homes, with our families; and it is worth our time to hearken to it. Let’s rediscover it together. Learn more.
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